#the ill made knight

[pretentious-art-love]

Book Reviews #25 - The Ill Made Knight by T.H. White

This is the third book in the Arthur series by T.H. and to me it has solidified his failures to me. His failures hurt me more than with the usual author, though, and I need to explain why.

First of all, I did like the first book and how it used Arthur's childhood as an excuse to talk about humanity using animals as allegories, it was perfect, there was barely any plot, but the world was surreal and filled with child like wonder to it. The second book, the Witch in the Wood, did not have this kind of wrapping to showcase White's ramblings and his explorations about life become a lot more transparent and hamfisted as he tries to fits them into the plot.

I had criticized a lot the second book because it lacked a proper plot. There were a lot of elements for a proper conflict, but they were glazed over for the monologues which weren't even attributed to any character most of the times, but for the narrator himself. The third book adds a new protagonist, Lancelot, and introduces a more sober conflict. What is the conflict this time? A love triangle.

Yes, yes. I know, it is a cliche plot, and a bad plot, but I said, let's give it a bit of a chance, alright? My friend likes a lot this series, so I gave it an opportunity since this time I finally had a hook to continue reading.

What can I say without spoilers first? Well, that most of the event's aren't shown, they are narrated. Reading this book is not that different from reading the summary of the Wikipedia page, just with more details. It makes me really angry to hear interesting stuff happening and not being able to see the actual dialogues of the characters. X said this, Y did that, and since there are no dialogues, the narrator tells us everything about how the characters are feeling. She felt like this, he was like that, it is all tell, no show. There are very few scenes with actual proper dialogue, so to me everything feels like being told a story without actually being there. I am not feeling anything the character is telling me, I am just hearing what the narrator wants me to feel. It is frustrating and exasperating.

The narrator, White, even mentions the Le Morte d'Arthur several times, "the events in this chapter are better told there!" Which I mean, fine, I appreciate your honesty, but when your stories are basically just fan fiction of a popular character it feels like you could do a better way to immerse you in the story than saying "remember to also check the additional material!" and all in all, this all feels like just that. Arthurian fan fiction for White's metaphors and way to see the world.

He describes a lot of things in a very picturesque manner, and I can connect a lot with his emotional porousness, when he describes the way the armor of the knights weighted a lot or how the pain of a certain character worked for them as a way of expiation, I felt that, but most of the narrative events in the story, most of the material that is not him describing life like a painting, I didn't felt, because it didn't get shown to me.

Now I will run free with spoilers.

It is annoying, this book has cemented for me my dislike for third person narrators. He says "Oh, could women love more than one man? Maybe they could but in different ways." Dude why don't you show that to me? Then there is Lancelot, while Lancelot is a much more interesting character than Arthur, his background is not shown. White literally says "there was shame and self loathing which had been planted there when he was tiny by something which is now too late to trace. It is fatally easy to make young children believe that they are horrible." Yes! Yes! It is very easy! I know what you mean, I have lived it, I have felt it, but why don't you show me that instead of telling me? Tell all the people who haven't lived what we both lived, White, how can we even make them feel that if you don't show it to them?

Then goes the love triangle, I haven't lived a love triangle myself, I haven't even been in a relationship. While to me the whole matter of Lancelot and the Queen and Arthur might sound super stupid to me now, it is because I don't have the reference to feel it, and since the novel isn't showing to me what is happening, just telling me about it, I just feel like I'm outside a party I can't join, I can see things happening from outside, but I'm still outside!

It is maddening, truly maddening. Couldn't have there been a reason for Lancelot to have self esteem issues? I don't know, he was ugly maybe, but he was loved by two women, so what was the deal? White didn't want to show us what did hurt him or didn't have the time to, so now I am left with a protagonist with no heart. I was telling my friend that a telling of a story about Lancelot being trans would make a lot of sense. To me, it would make him a lot more relatable, the him wanting to be with a queen and falling in love after he did hurt her, because to me being trans hurts me and I might end up hurting others out of spite. Being with Elaine, all that, it would make a lot of sense. If the story was written with a conflict I could have tried to put myself to grow and be in his shoes, but we weren't told why, and Lancelot's actions feel like a puzzle that has no solution.

Arthur barely takes any action in the story, I had some hopes for him, but I guess he is fated to be a lot of nothing, only to be used by the narrator to say "and then Arthur did little by little changes that brought democracy to the world" or something like that. I feel that, despite relating more to Lancelot, I felt more vividly Arthur in this story because of my passive nature. Again, I can feel a part of the book, because I have a reference to it, but I am not living it again here, I am not getting that feedback about the events, I am just being reminded about them, and if someone with a different background than me reads this, they will be all in the blind. At the end White has the audacity to say "and this was a story of true love, not like the one of young people of today that are just pursue the spams of cinematograph." Dude are you for real? I just... I don't even have any words. White might be a great poet, but he isn't s novelist.

What hurts me the most though is that T.H White is just like me. This books hurts me more than other books, because I am just like him, I dream a lot, and I feel a lot, but I have trouble getting my feelings into paper. I tell a lot, and don't show too much, because i feel that intense and burning need to make you feel what I feel as fast as I can, before the feeling dissipates away, I want to let you know what is going on! I need you to tell you! I started a novel myself, I currently have 65k words on it, but I feel a bit stuck on it and I am just in the third arc out of 7 I have planned. I haven't written a new chapter in practically half a year. White might have ran like a maniac to end his novel, but he finished his novel, it is here, now, and there have been people who liked it. Shouldn't I just do the same? Accept the limitations of my brain and try to let you feel what I feel with descriptions alone? Lovecraft said that what matters the most in a story is its atmosphere at its least banal point, and maybe that's what I should focus on, because even if I fail in 90% of stuff, at least, a single chapter, a single something, will be left for you. Just like the chapter about geese in The Sword in the Stone.

I am not happy with my defects when I write, and I am happy seeing them in this book either, I am being harsh with T.H. White, but because I need to be harsh with myself too, because I want to be better, achieve something better. When you see someone with the same qualities and abilities like you in a book it makes you feel self conscious, or jealous. To see they are in a book, and I'm not, it is a weird sensation, because if the writer was worse, or better, I wouldn't feel as vivid. If it was worse, I could say, okay, they aren't cooking, but that makes me feel better about my craft because I can do something that surpasses them. Or if they are better, I say, okay, i can learn about this person and how they write. But no, T.H. White is embarrassingly like me in his countless faults and few good qualities! That is why it hurts me, and that is why it makes me really pissed off reading this! This was a stupid fucking book!

5/10

[kaleidemaran]

chevalier mal fet

[bookshelfpassageway]

yknow i dont go here but sometimes i gotta go: seriously respect clowns. they have the worst pop culture representation in the world and also the best most thorough honor code. they're just here to be silly little guys who bring joy and are very conscientious about doing so responsibly. let them to their merriment in peace you dont hafta take potshots. i dont go here but like maybe i should, you all seem super chill

[mothcpu]

FINALLY, OUR WAITING PUZZLE IS OVER.

[turtleplushi]

Meta Knight addresses the "Sworn Partners" allegations.

[nookisms]

Oops. It's a second headcanon compilation!

Don't worry, the next one will be back to our normal schedule of regular text posts and not headcanons

Masterpost

[joinmeinjoy]

knight hob knight hob knight hob

[kelocitta]

In honor of the @rw-ship-showdown I wanted to write about Artihunter as someone who jokingly slapped them together pre-downpour and still thinks they are actually very compelling. Just not in the super soft love wins kinda way (Although I get why people like that more) And the only way I know how to do that is talking too much so heres a far too long slug essay-

Obviously the slugcats don't offer a ton of characterization but theres not nothing to work with. Their stories, whether by their roles in it or the overarching themes do provide a backbone to work with. Even gameplay itself can provide a bit. (for some more than others) Hunter, to me, is ultimately a story about selflessness. The goal is to revive Moon, which is very much an act of kindness from both Hunter and NSH. But the weight of that action is much more significant for Hunter- Hunter is deeply sick. They're on the clock, and for all their skill in combat none of that will ultimately help them to survive longer than their body can hold out. Moon is a close friend of NSH but that means little Hunter- Hunter really gets next to nothing out of helping them, and ultimately pays quiet a bit spending their limited time alive fighting to deliver that neuron so that someone else can live.

To spend ones limited days on helping another, in a game that very much stresses the unwavering cruelty of the world and nature- is pretty notable. (And you could even say that Hunter being the Hardmode of Rain World adds another layer to this)

And then we have Artificer. A storyline that very much stands out to people as more… villainous (so to speak) than the other slugcats. Artificer's story covers a lot of things. Trauma, violence, revenge, etc. Revenge is a bit of a selfish desire- That need to see someone hurt as they have hurt you. A punishment that ultimately does not fix whatever harm was done- but feels good to see because you were hurt and now those responsible share that pain.

Artificer's actions are founded in that need for revenge, their pups killed for overstepping boundaries they didn't know existed. Is it not fair for them to be angry at that, to punish the scavengers for their violence with their own? Why should the scavengers ever be forgiven when they and their pups were not? And that's how you get that loop- Harm for harm over and over.

The original action has been lost in a spiral of violence for violence. And here stands Artificer- their very spirit scarred. Not just because they sought revenge, but because they never ceased trying to scratch that itch for violence as an answer. Artificer only has two paths for their story- killing the scavenger king (Someone who, really, has little to do with the original 'crime' of the scavengers, but represents an important individual to them- as did the slugpups to Artificer), locking themselves as karma one for good and spending the rest of their life chasing creatures that no longer even fight back in a warped sense of closure- or to dissolve themselves in the acids of the void sea because they're too far gone to find any real peace.

They can't meaningfully recover from that state, not alone, twisting in on themselves. Even if they halt their actions, they've been using violence as a feeble defense against their own pain- violence that no longer has any real direction or basis. Artificer gets no real closure from killing the scavenger king. All they can do is continue the cycle, or try to scrub it away. No real peace in a prison of their own making. So you have a creature, who even with a strict timer on their life- a body that will crumble to disease, spends its last bit of time on saving another. And another who was so caught up in the pain of loss that were eaten alive by their own anger, poisoned their own soul on such a deep level even self-proclaimed gods have no solution for them. What peace can they offer each other? For Hunter, its only a fleeting moment of happiness- of selfish love, before their own body fails them. A bit of indulgence in something for themself. For Artificer, its a single, comforting thread to ground them again, something tangible to protect and care about again. But thats a thread that will ultimately be snapped under the cruel indifference of the world. Hunters timer will tick down regardless of if it takes another with it. Its a tragedy- its doomed to end badly. Whatever good it offers to either of them to find each other will only provide the fleeting comfort of a band-aid that will be ripped away too early. But all that can be worth indulging in anyway, if only for the moment. It doesn't change the ending, but the ending was never going to be happy. Its can so yuri

[evanzzz3]

did u guys see that new pv omg.. we're eating good in 2024

[mizzyislost]

so i had some fun hollow knight valentines day card ideas

for you and all your friends!

[fixing-bad-posts]

[Image description: A cut-up poem, overlaid on a sepia-toned image of a man in chain-mail being knighted by a woman holding a sword. Transcript is below.]

---

Our honest woman made ALL of opinion in the hour of desire on that most natural lancing That's a home and we are finally more

if our Unpopular king noticed the cycle the proven con it meant more to not see and not say

I've errands, of honorable doing still I can't belong to such work (In tribute only for her)

---

on: the ill-made knight

[silverskye13]

I've finally found a book that's about as long winded as I am, and my god, how the fuck do you people read anything I write.

[quinn-pop]

i’ve been updating village of one a lot so uhh here’s some fic art

yeah

future dmk is so funny to me so. for comparison. look at him

[hollowkightiscool]

void poisoning

tw:kinda gross and illness

Stage one Harsh pain in chest and stomach (lifeblood seems to help this)

Stage two Sharp stinging and burning sensations all over. (Once again lifeblood helps)

Stage three Burning pain intensify(lifeblood helps) Vomiting(lifeblood helps) Coughing uncontrollably(lifeblood dose not help) Dizziness(lifeblood helps) Drowsiness(lifeblood helps) Blacking out(lifeblood dose not help)

Stage four (last months to years) Trouble breathing(lifeblood dose not help) Vomiting void(lifeblood helps) Coughing void(lifeblood kinda helps) Crying void(lifeblood dose not help) Trouble moving, joints feel stiff(lifeblood helps) Pain increases(lifeblood helps)

Final stage (nothing helps anymore) Void seeping from mouth and eyes Hunger (often causing auto cannibalism) Need to embrace the void Slowly becoming paralysed Self hatred Regret Need for isolation Loss of emotion Hunger Memory loss P A I N. Loss of feeling in legs

[nonexistentenigma]

What's the Greatest Warrior in the Galaxy got to wish for anyway?

Hi, I'm back again with a drawing today, and tomorrow? Probably nothing. This was really experimental this time, I fiddled around with Clip Studios vector function a lot and tried different shading techniques for stuff. No idea if it worked that well but I had fun.

[crystalpallette]

I finally got a full lineup of these losers(affectionate)

(a ppq fanseries of mine, the royal advisors)